Published: November 27, 2009 11:44 pm         

Sons mark 20th anniversary of parents’ deaths

BRAZIL — Standing near two white-painted wooden crosses along U.S. 40 that mark a site where his parents were killed 20 years earlier, Jerry L. Lybarger flipped through several red ribbons he held that were marked with the letters MADD — Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.

“One thing about the crash. Mom and Dad had a piece of red yarn for MADD tied on their car at the time,” Lybarger said, Friday. “It doesn’t seem possible that it’s been 20 years since Wednesday, Nov. 29, 1989, and I got that call from Bob.”

His brother Bob Lybarger, 42 at the time, had telephoned his brother Jerry, 38 at the time, to tell them their parents, Marjory R. Lybarger, 69, and Herschel H. Lybarger, 73, of Terre Haute had been killed in a collision that involved a drunken driver. Ronald E. Glasscock was later convicted and sentenced to jail for their deaths.

“That call from Bob absolutely changed our lives,” Jerry Lybarger said. “I remember today him telling me, ‘Jerry, you better sit down, I’ve got bad news. Mom and Dad are both dead.’ I was in emotional shock,” he said.

“Our boys were 10 and 12 at the time and we had to tell them about their grandparents. We loaded up the van. It was quicker to drive [the 12-hour trip from Longview, Texas] all night than fly here [to Indiana]. We had driven that many times before to visit everyone,” he said.

“When we got to Mom and Dad’s house, I remember the first thing that Bob said to me was, ‘This always happens to someone else,’” Lybarger said.

Each year since 1989, with the exception of 2008, Bob and Jerry Lybarger have conducted a memorial service on the day after Thanksgiving to remember their parents. The brothers put up the wooden crosses 20 years ago near the crash site at 2104 W. U.S. 40, now a vacant lot of the former Burger Dodge Chrysler automobile dealership on the western edge of Brazil.

The brothers had a connection to Brazil: Each graduated from Brazil High School; Bob Lybarger in 1965 and Jerry in 1969.

Bob Lybarger still lives in Lizton. Jerry Lybarger now lives in Westerville, Ohio.

“My cousin, Barbara Wood, called me from Terre Haute. She was trying to get us on the phone, but one of our kids was on the phone, so the operator interrupted the call saying it was a medical emergency. I think Dad had had some health problems and I thought that maybe he had a heart attack,” Bob Lybarger said Friday.

“My cousin came on the phone and said my mom and dad had been killed. Uncle Charlie then came on [the telephone] and said they are gone, they are both dead. It is one of those things you can’t believe at the time. You think man, am I dreaming this? But, it happens and it is not very pleasant,” Bob Lybarger said.

Bob Lybarger said he understands Glasscock remains in Indiana and is involved in a religious ministry.

“I have forgiven him, but I don’t want to see him,” Bob Lybarger said.

“I agree with that, I never want to see him,” Jerry Lybarger quickly added.

Last year, the brothers did not hold a memorial for their parents in honor of Marilyn Peffley, former president of the Wabash Valley Mothers Against Drunk Driving chapter who died in late 2008. Peffley had been instrumental in the brothers’ annual memorial.

During a short memorial on Friday, Jerry Lybarger referred to 2008 figures from MADD, stating that on average, one person was killed by a drunk driver every 45 minutes and about three in every 10 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related automobile crash in their lives.

He then spoke about a car accident in Kaufman County, Texas, that happened in March. A drunk driver killed Carolyn Sue Darling, 47, and her grandson, Keaton Lambert, 5.

“I mention this because Keaton Lambert played football with my youngest grandson in Longview, Texas in the fall of 2008. That season, his grandmother, Carolyn Darling, had told my daughter-in-law that if anything ever happened to Keaton on her watch, she would die,” Jerry Lybarger said.

“I ask that you please spread the word not to drink and drive,” he said, still clutching several red MADD ribbons.



Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.



Red Ribbons

• Mothers Against Drunk Driving will kick off its annual Tie One On For Safety campaign at 12:30 p.m. Monday at the Terre Haute Boys and Girls Club.

Red ribbons will be distributed to remind people not to drink and drive during the holiday season. For more information, contact Mary Tremmel, site coordinator, at wabashvalley.in@madd.org.